The nun sanctified by the virtues of her state
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| Being performed with so much tepidity, they render her always more and more deserving of chastisement, and deprive her of those abundant helps which God had prepared for her, had she corresponded to his holy inspirations. For he that hath, to him shall be given, and he shall abound; but he that hath not, from him shall be taken away that also which he hath. 1 Whoever by his co-operation treasures up the fruit of the graces received from God shall obtain an increase of grace and glory; but from the man who buries his talent, thus rendering it unprofitable, that which he hath shall be taken, and the graces prepared for him shall be withheld. 1 " Omni enim habenti dabitur, et abundabit; ei autem qui non habet, et quod vidctur habere, auferetur ab eo." Matt. xxv. 29.
Prayer. Behold, O Lord, I am one of those unhappy souls who deserved to be left by Thee in the miserable state of tepidity, in which, deprived of Thy light and abandoned by Thy grace, I lived for so many years. But I now see the light which Thou givest me ; and I hear Thy voice calling me again to Thy love. These graces are so many proofs that Thou hast not as yet abandoned me. And since Thou hast not cast me away in punishment of so much ingratitude, I desire never more to be ungrateful to Thee. Thou art ready to pardon me, if I repent of the offences that I have committed against Thee. Pardon me, O Jesus, for I detest and abhor my sins above all things. Would that I had died before I ever offended Thee. Thou dost wish for my love : I desire nothing more but to love Thee. I love Thee, O my Sovereign Good : I love Thee, O my God, who art worthy of infinite love. Increase, O Lord, in my soul Thy own light, and the desire Thou givest me to belong entirely to Thee. Thou art omnipotent: Thou canst easily change my heart, and make a rebel to Thy graces become an ardent lover of Thy goodness. Such I desire and hope to be, with the assistance of Thy grace. Thou hast promised to hear all who pray to Thee. I now ask Thee to make me belong entirely to Thee, and love nothing but Thee alone. Ah ! Jesus, my Spouse, through the merits of 37 Thy blood, make me love Thee as a sinner ought to love, whom Thou hast loved so much, and whose ingratitude Thou hast borne with so much patience, and for so many years. Trusting, then, in Thy infinite mercy, I hope with a firm confidence to love Thee with my whole heart in this life, and in the next to praise for all eternity Thy mercies to me. The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever. 1 O Mary, my Mother, I acknowledge that these graces, this light, these desires, and this good-will, which God now gives to me, are the fruits of thy intercession. Continue, O Mary, continue to intercede for me, and do not cease to pray for my sanctification, until my whole being shall be, as thou dost desire, consecrated without reserve to Jesus Christ. Such, O Mary, my firm hope: may it soon be realized. Amen. 1 " Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo." Ps. Ixxxvii. 2. CHAPTER VI. CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT. 1. A Religious has especially to fear being lost when she sins by Attachment to some Passion, or when she lives in Tepidity. THE religious whose faults spring from attachment to any passion is exposed in a particular manner to the danger of being lost. O God! how many religious are there who, because they do not disengage their hearts from certain earthly attachments, never become saints, and endanger their eternal salvation. To conquer her passions, to expel from her soul all worldly affections, and to remove every obstacle to her progress in perfection, should be the end and object of a religious, in all her spiritual exercises, in her Communions, meditations, spiritual readings, and in all similar duties. To this end she should direct all her devotions and all her prayers, begging continually of the Almighty a perfect detachment from every creature, and a complete victory over all her corrupt inclinations. To gain this victory she ought, in the first place, to direct her attention to the practice of exterior mortification, and particularly to the mortification of the eyes, of the appetite, and of the tongue. Secondly, she should endeavor to mortify and to eradicate all the irregular affections of the heart, such as attachment to self-esteem, to the things of the world, or to any other object in which she takes delight. Thirdly, she must strive to destroy self-will, by acting continually in opposition to her own inclinations. Lastly, she should seek to do all this with ease and with cheerfulness; for in this great contest with the corruption of nature she shall always have some passion to moderate or some virtue to improve. There are some who continue their Communions and meditations, but in them they only seek spiritual refreshment and sensible devotion. Hence they remain always bound down to the earth by worldly attachments, which continually impede their advancement in holiness, and make them recede more and more every day from their first fervor. It frequently happens that such persons in the end lose the grace of God. It is necessary to impress deeply on your mind that the artifice by which the devil seeks to draw spiritual souls from the service of God is, not to tempt them at first to any mortal sin. In the beginning he is, as St. Francis says, satisfied to hold them in bondage by a single hair; for if he attempted to bind them at once in the bonds of servitude they would fly from him with horror. . But fearing not the trammels of a single hair, they are easily led into the snares prepared for their destruction. At first they are caught by a single hair; then they are bound by a slender thread; next by a strong cord; and finally they are chained in the fetters of hell and the slavery of Satan. For example, a religious, after a dispute with some of her Sisters, will at first retain feelings of dislike, and thus is held by a single hair. After a little time she will neither speak to them nor salute them: she is now bound by a slender thread. Next she will begin to injure them by words and deeds, and is fettered by a strong cord: then on the first occasion of provocation she conceives a mortal hatred towards them, and thus puts on the chains of hell and the slavery of the devil. Again, another religious will at first entertain a human affection towards a friend; she then cherishes this affection under the pretext of gratitude: mutual presents follow; they are succeeded by words of endearment; and by the first assault of passion the miserable soul is bound in the chains of death. In fine, as gamblers by the loss of many small sums are induced to risk and to lose their whole property, so the tepid soul by frequent venial faults is rendered reckless of God’s grace, and too weak to resist the temptations of the enemy. Thus she loses her God and her all. To find us addicted to any passion, is to the devil a powerful stimulus to exert himself for our destruction. "It is," says St. Ambrose, "principally when he sees any passions generated in us that the adversary lays his snares: it is then that he excites concupiscence, and prepares his nets." `1 The enemy endeavors to discover the evil inclinations which predominate in our hearts, and presenting to us opportunities of indulging these corrupt tendencies, foments our passions, and prepares a snare for our destruction. "When," says Cassian, "we hear of the fall of a soul consecrated to God, we are not to imagine that she fell at once into mortal sin. No: we must suppose that she began by light faults, and by them was led into grievous 38 transgressions." St. John Chrysostom asserts that he knew many persons who appeared to be adorned with all virtues, and who, because they disregarded venial sins, were precipitated into an abyss of crime. The Venerable Sister Anne of the Incarnation saw in hell a soul reputed by her and by all to be a saint. On her countenance appeared a multitude of small animals, representing the first faults which she disregarded. Of these animals some were heard to say to the unhappy soul, "With us you began ;" others, " By us you continued ;" and the rest, " By us you were lost." Hence, Mother Mary Victoria Strada used to say : "The devil, when he cannot have much, is content with a little ; and with that little he afterwards acquires a great deal." 1"Tune maxime insidiatur adversarius, quando videt nobis passiones aliquas generari; tune fomites movet, laqueos parat." De OFFic. 1. I, c. 4. At first the serpent tempted Eve not to eat, but only to behold the forbidden fruit; he then raised doubts about the fulfilment of the divine threats; and in the end induced her to violate the command of God. St. Teresa observes that the enemy is satisfied when a soul begins to open to him the gate of her heart: he will afterwards obtain full possession of it. This is likewise the doctrine of St. Jerome. "The devil," says the holy Doctor, "does not contend at once against any one by temptations to great vices, but only to small faults, that he may by some means enter and govern the heart of man, and that he may afterwards impel him to more heinous crimes." 1 He does not immediately tempt any one to mortal sin; but commences by suggesting light defects, that, gaining admission into the soul, and beginning his rule, he may afterwards draw her into grievous transgressions. " No one," says St. Bernard, " is plunged at once into the depths of turpitude: 2 they who fall into the greatest enormities begin by the smallest faults." 3 An insignificant spark will set fire to a whole forest. Behold, says St. James, how small a fire what a great wood it kindleth! 4 A single unmortified passion will precipitate the soul into ruin. 1" Diabolus non pugnat cito contra aliquem per grandia vitia, sed per parva, ut possit quomodocumque intrare et dominari homini, ut postea in majora vitia eum impellat." 2 " Nemo repente fit turpissimus." Dedam. n. 15. 3" A minimis incipiunt, qui in maxima proruunt." De Ord. Vit. c. II. 4 " Ecce quantus ignis quam magnam silvam incendit!" James, iii. 5 And here it is necessary to remark most particularly, that whenever a religious is guilty of mortal sin, her fall will expose her to great danger of being abandoned by God: for being committed amid the lights and graces of God, imparted to her by means of so many sermons, Communions, meditations, good example of companions, admonitions of spiritual directors and of Superiors, her trangression will not be like that of seculars, who sin in the midst of the darkness of the world, but will be a sin of malice. After having received so many lights, and having in her hands so many means of obtaining strength against the enemy of her salvation, she cannot allege ignorance or weakness in extenuation of her guilt. According to the doctrine of St. Thomas, 1 a sin of malice is that which is committed with a full knowledge of its enormity. Hence, because the darkness arising from sin is proportional to the lights bestowed on its author, the sin of malice produces great misery in the soul. Besides, the angelic Doctor 2 teaches that the grievousness of sin increases in proportion to the ingratitude of the sinner. Now the graces and favors which a religious has received from God are innumerable. He has taken her from the midst of the dangers of the world, and because every convent is the house of God, has given her a place in his own habitation. From a vast multitude of his servants he has selected her for his spouse; and to make her a saint, and fit to be a spouse of God, he has enriched her with so many lights and so many external and internal helps to sanctity. He has frequently given himself to her in the Holy Eucharist; and in her meditations, visits, and spiritual readings has often spoken to her with the familiarity of a friend. In a word, he has raised her up from the depth of lowliness and placed her among the princes of his people. And after all these favors she by sin turns her back upon him, and deliberately determines to become his enemy. Unhappy soul ! her fall will be her destruction. He that falls on level ground seldom sustains serious injury; but he that tumbles from a lofty eminence is said not to fall, but to be dashed to ruin. 1 i. 2, q. 78, a. I. 2 i. 2, q. 73, a . 10. "A fall from on high," says St. Ambrose, " is accompanied with great destruction." 1 And the prophet Ezechiel says: And I set thee in the holy mountain of God. . . . And thou hast sinned: and I cast thee out from the mountain of God and destroyed thee 2 Ungrateful soul, the Almighty will say to the religious, I have placed you on my holy mountain, and from its summit you have voluntarily fallen into sin. In punishment, then, of your ingratitude, remain in perdition, for I have banished you forever from my face. " God," says Sister Mary Strozzi, " wishes religious to be the mirror of the entire world. Hence, because they are called to extraordinary perfection they dishonour him greatly by an imperfect life. The sin of a religious excites the horror of paradise, and obliges the Almighty to turn away from her ; for he repudiates faithless spouses who violate the contract made at their profession, and therefore he abandons them to their irregular passions." Oh how difficult is the conversion of a soul who, after having once tasted the sweetness of God, becomes a rebel to his love ! 39 A religious, then, should tremble at the thought of being bound to the service of Satan by any passion, or by any, even the smallest sin. She should, I say, tremble, because every little attachment may be the cause of her damnation. St. Teresa used to say that "whoever approaches ruin will be lost." This observation is most just. For although she had never been guilty of a mortal sin, Almighty God showed her the place prepared for her in hell if she had not relinquished an irregular though not an unchaste affection which she entertained towards a relative. 1 " Ruina quæ de alto est, graviori casu collidetur." De Dignit. Sac. c. 3. 2 " Posui te in monte sancto Dei, . . . et peccasti; et ejeci tede monte Dei, et perdidi te." Ezck. xxviii. 14. A bird unshackled flies with ease, but when tied even by a slender thread it remains on the earth, and, like the toad, will continue to crawl in the mire. So a religious free from all earthly attachments flies and will continually fly to God. But while any affection to creatures dwells in her heart she will never rise above the earth, but will fall continually into greater defects, till at length all is lost. In fine, you must be persuaded that the salvation of a religious depends on the correction of light faults, particularly when frequent and habitual: for so many little streams will form a river in which she will be overwhelmed. Habitual faults disregarded and not corrected will by degrees draw her into the state of tepidity that miserable state of which the Redeemer said to the Bishop of Laodicea: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot 1 Behold the state of a tepid religious. She is not daring enough to abandon God altogether, but she despises light faults. She commits a great many of them every day, by impatience, lies, murmuring, greediness, imprecations; by aversions, and by attachments to worldly goods, to the grate, to curiosity, to self-esteem, and to self-will. And these imperfections she neither regrets nor endeavors to correct. I would, continues the Lord, thou wert cold or hot; but because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. 2 I would, he says, thou wert cold: that is, it were better for you to be altogether deprived of my grace; for then there would be stronger hopes of your repentance. But, remaining in a state of tepidity, you will stand in greater danger of damnation; because you will easily fall from that state into mortal sin, and then there will be but little reason to hope for your resuscitation. 1 " Scio opera tua, quia neque frigiduses, neque calidus." Apoc. iii. 15. 2" Utinam frigidus esses aut calidus ! sed, quia tepidus es, et nee frigidus nee calidus, incipiam te evomere ex ore meo." Ibid. 15, 16. Speaking of a sinner not as yet converted, St. Gregory holds out hopes of repentance; but, speaking of a tepid soul who is not afraid of her imperfections, he despairs of her amendment. "Warmth which has failed from fervor is in despair.� 1 The Son of God says: Because thou art lukewarm, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth. A draught, when cold or hot, may be taken without repugnance; but when tepid it is nauseous. The lukewarm Christian stands in great danger of being vomited forth by Almighty God; that is, of being forsaken by his grace. By the words, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth, the Redeemer signified that he was ready to abandon the tepid soul; for what is vomited is taken back only with horror. But how does God begin to vomit the tepid religious out of his mouth ? He ceases to give her the vivid lights of faith, the spiritual consolations, the holy desires, and the loving calls which he was accustomed to bestow upon her. Bereft of these blessings, she begins to neglect her meditations, Communions, and visits to the blessed Sacrament, or to discharge these duties with repugnance, disgust, and distraction. She will perform all her exercises with reluctance, dissipation, with inquietude, and without devotion. Behold ! how the Lord begins to vomit her out of his mouth. Thus the miserable soul finding only pain and trouble, and no comfort in any of her exercises of piety, she finally abandons them all, and falls into grievous sins. In a word, tepidity is a moral fever which is scarcely felt, but irremediably leads to death. The tepid soul never thinks of correcting her faults. She becomes so insensible to the stings of conscience, that without perceiving her fall she will be one day precipitated into eternal misery. 1"Tepor (qui a fervore defecit) in desperatione est." Past. p. 3, adm. 35. 2. Means to extricate One’s Self from Tepidity. Then, the tepid religious will say, for me there is no hope of salvation. Because, she will add, it is almost impossible for me to arise from my miserable state. But let her attend to the answer of Jesus Christ: The things that are impossible with men are possible with God. 1 What is impossible to man is not impossible to God. Whoever prays and adopts the necessary means obtains all graces. What are the necessary means ? First, as to Faults committed through Frailty. If your faults are sins of inadvertence, or of frailty, they do but little injury to the soul as long as you detest them with humility. And here it is necessary to remark, that two sorts of humility arise from our defects the one holy, and the gift of God; the other pernicious, and the offspring of the 40 devil. The former is that by which the soul sees her imperfections, and is covered with confusion before God, and filled with a sense of her own nothingness. She is sorry for her faults: she detests them, but without being disturbed; and at the sight of her misery she is not discouraged or agitated; but, trusting in God, she resolves to atone for her imperfections by greater attention to her duties, and by greater fervor in works of piety. The other species of humility is that which fills the soul with agitation, with inquietude, and with diffidence; thus making her weak and almost incapable of doing any good. "True humility," says St Teresa, " though it makes the soul feel her own sinfulness, does not disturb her peace, but, on the contrary, infuses consolation. It fills, indeed, the heart with grief and affliction for having offended God, but at the same time inspires strong hopes of mercy. 1 " Quæ impossibilia sunt apud homines, possibilia sunt apud Deum." Luke xviii. 27. By such humility the soul is enlightened to see her own misery, and to praise God for having so long borne with her. But false humility instilled by the devil brings with it no light to make the soul do good, but represents God as a tyrant who will destroy all by fire and sword. Of all the deceitful inventions of the devil which I have known this is the most subtle." 1 In the imperfections, then, which human weakness cannot avoid, as negligence is censurable, so excessive fear is reprehensible. " In such almost inevitable faults," says St. Bernard, " immoderate fear, as well as negligence, is culpable." 2 We should be sorry, but not lose courage, when we commit such faults; for God readily grants pardon when the soul detests them. For the just man falls seven times, and shall rise again. 3 He that sins through frailty easily rises. "He falls and will rise again." St. Francis de Sales says that as daily defects are indeliberately committed, so they are indeliberately taken away. St. Thomas teaches that such faults are cancelled "when the soul is fervently moved towards God," 4 that is, by acts of divine love, of resignation, of oblation, and by similar works which spiritual souls are accustomed to perform. The angelic Doctor adds, " that the sacramentals such as to recite the Pater Noster, the Confiteor; to strike the breast; to receive the blessing of the bishop; to sprinkle one’s self with holy water; and to pray in a consecrated Church produce the remission of such venial defects." The sacraments, but especially the Holy Eucharist, have particular efficacy to remit venial sin. 1 Life, ch. 30. 2 " In hujusmodi quasi inevitabilibus (culpis), et negligentia culpabilis est, et timor immoderatus." In Cœna Doni, s. i. 3 " Septies enim cadet Justus, ct rer.urget." Prov. xxiv. 16. 4 Cum aliquis ferventer movetur in Deum." P. 3, q. 87, a. 3. "The mind," says St. Bernardine of Sienna, " may be so absorbed in devotion, by receiving Holy Communion, that the soul will be purified from all venial sins." Secondly, as to Deliberate though not Habitual Venial Sins. If a religious should have the misfortune to commit sometimes, but not often, a deliberate venial sin, she should not even then lose courage, or permit the peace of her soul to be disturbed. Let her endeavor immediately to repair her fault by repentance, and by a strong determination not to be guilty of it again. Whenever she relapses her sorrow and resolution should be renewed, and all her confidence placed in God, who, if she continue to act in this way after every fault, will finally deliver her from such deliberate sins. St. Philip Neri used to say that to become a saint is not the business of a day. Whoever leaves not the road of perfection in which he began to walk ought not to despond, for he will ultimately arrive at sanctity. To convince us of our weakness, to show us that without his aid and protection we should fall into the greatest crimes, God sometimes permits us to commit deliberate venial sins. Such faults, then, though voluntary, provided they be unfrequent, do not seriously injure the soul, or at least they do not bring her to ruin. Thirdly, as to Deliberate Venial and Habitual Sins. But light sins which are deliberate and habitual easily lead the soul into perdition, particularly when they are committed through attachment to any passion, and without sorrow or efforts of amendment; for they show that the soul has fallen into a state of tepidity from which, as we have already seen, it is very difficult to recover. 1" Contingere potest quod tanta devotione mens, per sumptionem Sacramenti, in Domino absorbeatur, quod ab omnibus venialibus expurgetur." De Chr. Doni. s. 12, a. 2, c. i. But if a religious should be so unfortunate as to fall into such a state, let her attend to the following means of emerging from it: 41 1. The first means is a true desire of being delivered from her miserable condition. If she feel not that desire, she ought at least to beg it of God, trusting in his promises to give us whatsoever we ask. Ask, and you shall receive. 1 2. She should endeavor to search out her defects, particularly her predominant failing. If, for example, she is full of self-esteem; if she frequently speaks in the language and tone of authority; if she is addicted to self-praise; if she is disturbed by every humiliation and inattention from others then she may conclude that pride is her ruling passion. Self-love will predominate in some who are afflicted at every little infirmity, who are annoyed at every inconvenience, and who always seek to gratify their palate, and cannot bear any food that is not agreeable to their taste. In others anger is the prevailing fault: they are provoked by every contradiction, and complain of the conduct of all who thwart their inclinations. Others, for every trivial cause, neglect mental prayer, Communion, the choir, and other similar duties: in them sloth holds the ascendancy. 3. As soon as she has discovered her predominant passion, a religious should make a strong resolution to free herself from it, and to contend with it till it is completely vanquished. Thou shalt, says the Lord, utterly destroy them." 2 " God," says St. Teresa, " requires of us only strong resolutions; he himself will do the rest." 3 In another place she asserts that the devil is afraid of resolute souls; but he fears not those who, though they desire perfection, never desire to become saints. 1 " Petite, et accipietis. "John, xvi. 24. 2Percuties cas usque ad internecionem." Deut. vii. 2. 3 Found, ch. 28. |